Thestral Gazing
by paynesgrey
Summary: It was supposed to be his night to be alone, but after meeting her there and being in her company, this lonely night soon belonged to both of them. HarryLuna Oneshot.


**Thestral-gazing**

She heard a rustle in the wind and a clatter on the ground, but somehow such noises didn't stir her in a place like this, in a time like this, and among beasts such as these.

But she turned anyway because she could sense that someone had dismounted a broom; that it wasn't some random noise or animal that stirred in the forest. Her visitor was familiar – an aura she'd come quite accustomed to in recent years.

She turned, and burning emerald eyes in the night met her own.

His jaw quivered at first, shocked that she was there and slightly perturbed his moment of peace was ruined by another person.

Then his face softened and he gave her a curious look. "Luna, what are you doing here?"

She turned her head, gazed into the sky, and watched the Thestrals as they began to stir restlessly before their inevitable slumber. It was the dead of summer, and the Thestrals had nothing to do, no carriages to pull. There was still no word if the coming school year would still resume, so Luna wondered if they'd have any carriages at all to pull for quite sometime.

She sighed airily, watching them. Harry remained silent behind her, caught up in a trance as he watched them too.

"I came here," she finally answered him. "...to watch them. I sometimes come in the summer when I'd get lonely and wanted to see them. My father would take me here by broom and come back later. Though sometimes, he's too busy to bring me here, and I have to imagine what they're doing just the same." Harry's gaze diverted to her form, and he studied her face. It seemed as though Luna was much attached to the Thestrals, mainly because she had seen them a lot longer than anyone else. He supposed that there was some other, deeper reason she was here, but with her wistful and nonchalant expression, he could not see beneath the surface.

She suddenly turned around and looked up at him curiously with intense pale eyes. "You came to watch them too?"

Harry swallowed and nodded once. He really did expect to be alone here, and a part of him really wanted to – to have some moment of silence where he could think of all the things molding and imploding inside his head. Though with Luna here – a familiar face – he felt slightly relaxed. It had seemed like so long ago since he went off on his own to think things through, to prepare for the war ahead. He rarely contacted Ron and Hermione, and of course he continued to avoid Ginny. In truth, he missed his friends terribly, even if he needed some time on his own. Seeing Luna here brought all those feelings to the forefront.

"Harry, are you okay? Nargle got your tongue?" She continued to stare at him, and usually she wouldn't say anything but his expression seemed distressed.

"No, Luna, I'm fine," Harry said, watching one of the Thestrals as it caught an owl in the air and began to eat it. "Luna, aren't you afraid of those things? You come here a lot, you say, but knowing how a Thestral is –"

He paused when he realized she seemed stunned by his words. "Not at all. If anything, I like them more than people." She slumped back down into her blankets on the ground and wrapped herself as the cold air picked up around them. She watched the hungry Thestral eat his meal before winding down to slumber like the rest of the herd.

Harry was silent again. As he watched Luna, he felt like an idiot when he realized that he had only thought of himself again – that he'd forgotten that other people, not just him, were in this war too. Luna had always been, since the D.A., a loyal friend and fighter to the cause. He had also overlooked her as a human being, and even with her dottiness and unyielding faith in a positive outcome, she was still human – and she was more than likely, just as scared as anyone else in this fight.

Thus while watching her stare at those Thestrals intently and then thinking about why she was here, he began to understand her more. Then, he felt like he was the one interrupting her moment, and not the other way around.

"I should go," he said neutrally. She continued to look straight ahead at the Thestrals, trying to be unaffected by his announcement. But as he was about to turn and leave, he caught a slight frown on her face and then it quickly vanished.

"Luna, are you scared, you know, about Voldemort?" The question spilled from his lips before he could revise it or re-say it so it didn't sound stupid and obvious.

And with such a question, he didn't know what to expect from Luna. Maybe she would say some story about how Voldemort was really a robot made by Muggles or a weird shape-shifting evolved half-vampire half-serpent whose greatest weakness was a bucket of water – something that made her very Luna, and not the pensive Luna that stared and sighed in silence at the Hogwarts Thestrals as they slept.

Instead she turned to him with a small smile on her face with her eyes as hopeful as they always had been. "Of course not," she answered airily. "I'm alright as long as you're there, Harry."

With the smooth, confident tone of her voice, Harry couldn't help to squirm in embarrassment. He turned his gaze away and missed the jubilant expression that had replaced her somber face.

"Er ...well, don't depend on just me, Luna. You and Neville, and everyone else in the D.A., we need you too," he said in a jumble of mumbles. Luna didn't respond right away or look at him. She gazed peacefully at the sleeping Thestrals and then looked up to the starry sky.

"I'm glad you stayed," she said bluntly. She clutched her knees and stared at the constellation of Orion. "Are you going to still come here after today?"

Harry followed her gaze to Orion and nodded. "Yeah... I want to see Hogwarts as much as I can – in case they shut it down."

"Mmmhh," she murmured. "You're lucky. I won't get to come anymore. My father says he won't bring me. Usually he lets me do anything, but with the way things are now and with the dangerous things that are happening – he doesn't want me out much."

Harry nodded in agreement. "You're lucky ... to have him worry about you like that, Luna." He felt a twinge of envy for Luna's relationship with her father and then it passed. He knew the Dursleys would throw him in front of Voldemort and run if they had the chance.

Luna nodded, but then she turned to him. "Harry, if you come here again, will you pretend that I'm here with you watching the Thestrals? That way, if I know that you do, I'd actually feel like I was here too." She gazed at him expectantly.

Harry was touched, and mildly surprised at her request. It was true that Luna believed in many great things, and now that her ritual of comfort was coming to an end, she wanted to have some reason to hold onto it. And after all the things she'd done for him – understood him and defended him when others were skeptical – how could he refuse?

He sat down next to her, and she quickly offered him part of her blanket. "I can do better than that, Luna." A Thestral suddenly snorted a loud snore in its sleep, and the two of them chuckled, Luna more loudly than he. Harry turned to her. "Next time I come, I'll come and get you. I'll fly us here, and have you back before supper – if that's okay with your dad, of course."

Luna sucked in a big chunk of air and looked like she was going to burst from excitement. "Oh would you?" She cocked her head to him. "My father won't mind of course, as long as it's Harry Potter that's with me. I'm sure he won't be too worried then! Oh really, you'd do that for me?" Her arms itched at her sides as if she was going to pounce on him, but she refrained and merely continued to stare at him dreamily as if he was the best thing in the world. Harry couldn't stop a rising blush from her reaction.

"Er ... yeah, no problem." He swallowed nervously again, and then slowly wrapped Luna's blanket around him. He tried to watch the Thestrals as well as compose himself from the embarrassment he felt by Luna's reaction. Harry was indeed more relaxed around Luna, but at the same time he still felt tense. He inwardly shrugged it off, and enjoyed the silence as Luna beamed next to him.

Soon, the world was very large and quiet, encasing them both in a moment of frozen lethargy. The forest became their haven, their company became a ward from trepidation, and the Thestrals became their bond. The earth turned, the night sky darkened, and the forest life fell over them in an endless buzz.

It felt as though they would never have to leave, that nothing scary was left outside waiting for them. Soon, in all this tranquility, Harry noticed that Luna had fallen asleep. It was moot when her father would come back for her, and as the black of the sky began to turn blue, he felt morning would approach soon.

Harry absently began to focus on Luna's steady breathing beside him, and then he felt weighted as her head leaned into his shoulder. He stiffened, and then after realizing Luna's comfort, he relaxed and scooted closer. A goofy, relaxed smile then crept upon his face.

From the beginning, he was supposed to be alone, to think of things and feel better on his own. The lonely night among the Thestrals was supposed to be only for him. He turned and looked at the slumbering Luna again, and then realized that the night was no longer his anymore – it was theirs.

THE END


End file.
